So It Goes
by AMKelley
Summary: Curtis never makes it to the front of the train because he can't see a future without Edgar.


Curtis doesn't blink when he makes his decision.

Curtis spares one last look at Mason trying, in vain, to crawl away with a knife stuck in her leg before turning back towards the man threatening to gig Edgar with a sharp blade. The look in Edgar's eyes are hurt and confused for a moment, daring to spill over with tears. There was only a split second for him to make a choice and he didn't hesitate to follow through on his heart's instinct rather than his gut.

Curtis wastes no time in charging through the mob of people breaking out in tiny acts of war in order to get to Edgar. Curtis is pushed back further into the crowd, further away from Edgar, but he fights against the mob surging in different directions. Edgar puts up a fight of his own and attempts to break free from the villain's grip but is roughly pulled back.

The man restraining Edgar lifts the blade and proceeds to bring it down until it pierces right through the side of Edgar's ribcage before Curtis can even reach him, smiling as he does. Edgar chokes out a wail of agony as the knife is twisted inside him, crying out Curtis' name even though they both know it's too late. Edgar's eyes twinkle with tears, glazing over slightly, and gives Curtis a pleading look just before he collapses to the ground.

The cries and yells and screams around Curtis seem to drown out to a muffled hiss, leaving him shell shocked as he takes a running charge towards Edgar's murderer. Curtis lunges forward, jumping the rest of the distance to tackle the murderer to the bloody floor of the rattling train. The other man stabs Curtis deep in the sternum with his blade before pulling it out to stab again. Despite the pain, Curtis struggles to break the man's grip on the handle.

Grabbing the man by the wrist, Curtis smashes his hand into the ground repeatedly until the knife is knocked from from his grasp. It clatters off to the side, close enough for Curtis to grab it and use it on his foe, but he doesn't bother with it. This is far too personal for Curtis, which is why he proceeds to pummel the man into the ground with his bare fists even as he claws at Curtis' face.

Curtis beats the man to a pulp, punching him over and over again until his hands are bruised, bloody, and broken just like his foe's face. The other man's face is beaten inward to the point where fragments of cracked skull are starting to pierce through the flesh of his face but it doesn't deter Curtis. He continues to hit him even after he stops kicking, or moving for that matter, as the war around him rages on. Curtis only stops when he hears a faint whimper off to the side of him.

_Edgar_.

He clambers off of the motionless body and remembers to breathe as he crawls over towards Edgar, letting the blood from his wound mingle with the pre existing stains on the floor. He collects Edgar up in his arms and flounders to drag Edgar and himself off to the side as far away from all the blood and dead bodies as possible as everyone drops like flies.

No one around them seems to notice or care about their predicament, too caught up with trying not to die themselves. Curtis backs them up against the wall just underneath one of the windows and pulls Edgar halfway onto his lap to rest in his arms. He caresses the side of Edgar's face with a bloody hand, smearing red in his wake that stains the younger man's paling cheeks.

Edgar stares up into Curtis' eyes, crying when he realizes the sacrifice his friend has made just for _him_. Curtis can see the blood draining out of Edgar's face just as he's sure Edgar can see the blood trickling out of his chest. They are both slowly bleeding out, becoming weaker, waiting to succumb from their wounds as their revolution crumbles down around them.

"What've you done?" asks Edgar weakly, coughing past the blood in his throat.

"I couldn't leave you," Curtis says, cradling Edgar in his arms.

"You fooking moron, Curtis," Edgar curses, caught between a weak laugh and tears that singe his face. "Why'd you do that?"

"Because I love you," Curtis tells him ardently, all choked up from pain. Both physical and emotional. "What's the point in fighting for a future that doesn't include you?"

"Fooking idiot..." Edgar gasps, convulsing in Curtis' arms as his body goes into a small fit.

He knows Edgar doesn't mean it. Edgar is only saying these things because the pain is almost too much to bare coupled with the fact that Curtis chose his life over the rest of everyone else's. Curtis waited eighteen years for this moment, to rise against Wilford and his rules, only to have a change of heart all because he can't stand facing the future without Edgar.

Because he was in love.

Curtis cradles Edgar's face in his bloody hands and bends down as much as he can to plant one last kiss on his lips, making every little movement and second count. He pulls away from Edgar to see the light behind his blue irises dim, fading slowly as the life leaves him one agonizing breath at a time. Tears run down Curtis' blood speckled face and drop off to splatter on Edgar's

"I'm so scared, Curtis..." Edgar cries, gasping for air until his face and body becomes slack. "I'm scared..."

Edgar's body goes boneless and his head drops back against Curtis' lap, lolling off to one side as his pupils dilate. Curtis shakes his head, not wanting to accept the fact that Edgar has died from blood loss. His tears fall down on Edgar's blood smeared face to wash away the crimson stains as Curtis sobs openly. The killing and dying around him doesn't even exist at this point.

"No, no... Don't do this to me..." Curtis sobs pathetically, shaking Edgar's unmoving form as he rocks back and forth, trying to rouse him awake. "Please wake up now..."

He knows Edgar can't respond to this but Curtis still tries even if it is in vain. He takes his last remaining strength to hoist Edgar up in his arms and place him fully onto his lap so he can hug Edgar's limp body to his blood soaked chest.

Curtis murmurs endearments and _love_ into Edgar's lifeless ear, knowing that he will never hear Edgar laugh or make those funny noises whenever Curtis kissed his neck or see him smile again. _To hell with the revolution_, Curtis thought. Edgar was the only thing that ever mattered to Curtis and now, he can make the sacrifice he couldn't make seventeen years ago.

Edgar's body starts to sag down slightly, but Curtis holds onto him as the strength to do so slips away from him entirely. Curtis looks up, blinking through his tunnel vision to see Grey and Tanya and everyone else slash and hack away as their numbers slowly dwindle down. Curtis catches Grey's eye for a split second, noting the look of horror he finds in them, before his head slumps down. Curtis' vision dims with the image of Edgar burned into his eyes as he fades into a state of unconsciousness.

And neither of them wake up.

Or so it goes...


End file.
